


i feel flames again.

by redhoods



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 12:42:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11828985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redhoods/pseuds/redhoods
Summary: “Need a light?”Jason jerks, hadn’t even realized he wasn’t alone in his desperate desire to be anywhere but inside the manor. It only takes seconds for him to find the source of the voice. Roy’s a few feet down, tucked back into an alcove, out of sight of the windows, his own cigarette half gone.





	i feel flames again.

**Author's Note:**

> the title is from flames by vast.
> 
> fandoms are gross. *peace fingers emoji*
> 
> i don't think i've ever actually posted anything jason related that i've written. i guess it's about time.

It was a bad idea to come and Jason hasn’t even gotten off his bike, much less step foot inside the manor. There are vehicles everywhere, more vehicles than he’s ever seen and he wonders who had to slip Bruce what to let him be okay with this.

He’s debating pulling his helmet back on and peeling away, making amends to Dick at some later time that doesn’t involve a party full of people he doesn’t actually want to talk to. It takes him too long to debate though and the manor door swings up. Jason holds his breath, hoping that no one had heard him, but Steph immediately turns in his direction, cupping her hands around her mouth as if she needs any amplifying, “Get in here already!”

Heaving a sigh, he swings off the bike, leaving his helmet on the seat and makes his way up the steps. Steph whoops and disappears back inside with a, “Jason’s here!” The only response is an indistinctive cheer and he braces himself before he steps through the doors.

A body immediately slams into him and his initial instinct is to flip said body to the floor and press his boot to their throat. That instinct doesn’t win, stamped down by years of no fighting rules in the manor.

“Ugh, Dickie, get off,” he says instead, trying to untangle Dick’s octopus limbs from around his person.

Dick, to his credit, does pull back, even if it’s not completely, “I didn’t think you were going to come.”

Jason shrugs and looks away, trying to find somewhere to put his eyes that doesn’t make his chest squeeze like a vice. There’s nowhere for it, “Yeah, well, I was threatened with grievous bodily injury.”

One of Dick’s eyebrows twitches, but he doesn’t call him out on the lie, and Jason is begrudgingly grateful, “Well, try to loosen up, maybe you’ll actually enjoy yourself!” Dick slips away then and Jason doesn’t try to follow him.

\--

He lasts thirty minutes before he feels like he’s suffocating. He skirts around everyone until he makes it to a door that dumps him into the backyard, hands already shoved into his jacket for his pack of cigarettes and lighter. The pack is crushed to hell but there’s still one salvageable and he shoves it between his lips before trying to get it lit. 

The lighter clicks and fails to ignite, clicks and fails, clicks and fails. “Mierda,” he mutters, because Alfred isn’t outside to here him, and resists the urge to hurl the piece of plastic into the yard.

“Need a light?”

Jason jerks, hadn’t even realized he wasn’t alone in his desperate desire to be anywhere but inside the manor. It only takes seconds for him to find the source of the voice. Roy’s a few feet down, tucked back into an alcove, out of sight of the windows, his own cigarette half gone.

Pocketing his own useless lighter, Jason nods and crosses to him, cigarette still hanging from his lips as Roy retrieves his own lighter. A flame flickers to life on Roy’s second attempt and Jason inhales greedily as soon as the cigarette is lit, slumping back against the wall.

Roy hums and it sounds somewhere between amusement and agreement.

Tipping his head to the side, he looks Roy over, from the smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose that only seems to have gotten worse with time, to the dark circles under his eyes, and the fact that his nails are bitten down to nothing. He tries to remember the last time he saw Roy and figures it was Before.

He’s not being subtle, not even trying to be, but it still makes him fight a blush when Roy says, “Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” his voice soft, amused but not upset.

“I’d hate to break my camera,” Jason blurts before he can stop himself, looking away and taking a long drag.

Next to him, Roy laughs, “I forgot what a little shit you were,” he uses the bottom of his shoe to grind his cigarette out completely and pockets the butt, “Don’t stay out here too long, Jaybird, Dick’ll get pissy if he thinks you’re avoiding his party.”

Jason watches him go, feeling a little lighter and a lot like a thirteen year old who couldn’t help but watch how Roy’s shoulders and arms flexed as he drew his bow. Shaking his head at himself, he follows Roy’s example, sliding the remains of his cigarette into his crushed pack before returning to the party.


End file.
